Top 10: Haunted Locations

We've all experienced it: an ill wind, a weird sound in the dark, that feeling of being watched. Most of the time it's nothing. It's just, as the saying goes, your mind playing tricks on you. Or so you tell yourself, just so that you can forget it and get back to real life.

Quite simply, when there are bills to pay, a mortgage to sweat out and a boss that won't stop riding you, there's just no time for the paranormal. But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And it doesn't explain why every culture throughout history, from ancient Egyptians to 21st century Middle England, has a documented and thriving belief in spirits and their incarnations. Of course, you've every right to dismiss this whole business as child's play, and stop reading right here. And odds are you'll never be proven wrong. But if even a single doubt lingers, you might try visiting some of these places, and see for yourself how easy it is to stay a non-believer.

Number 10

The Campground Haunted Massacre Attraction, Fort Mill, South Carolina

There's no obscene history to the campground attraction, but the owners have done everything they can think of — and that includes witchcraft and the occult — just to scare the hell out of you. Proud members of The International Association Of Haunted Attractions and devoted attendees of the Annual National Halloween, Costume & Party Show in Chicago know a thing or two about the joy of fear.

Besides the fact that camping in the woods is a naturally ghoulish pastime, when you're told about werewolf sightings and, in all seriousness, about the mental hospital just down the road, things can become a little spine tingling.

Number 9

Moscow's Underground, Russia

In a city that is nearly 900 years old, what you see is rarely what you get, especially in Moscow, where centuries of bloodthirsty dictators, unrelenting communists and whimsical czars have made the ability to dip below the radar a matter of survival — hence the city's vast underground network of tunnels, plunging down some 700 meters on 15 different levels.

It is here that you will find a network of abandoned bunkers, supply depots, massive vaults, and subway tunnels that, over the centuries, have been home to hobos, dissidents, artists, and exiles. Moscow's mole men, who call themselves the Diggers of the Underground Planet, have rediscovered ghastly relics like the torture chamber built by Ivan the Terrible in the 1580s and a pond that was the site of a mass suicide. And though they won't take you to see these two sites, the Diggers do take visitors on tours.

Number 8

Brissac Castle, Loire Valley, France

This particular castle is as ornate and indulgent as French castles get. With seven floors and over two hundred rooms, no expense was spared for this Loire Valley marvel when it was rebuilt in 1633. Ceilings are painted with gold and the tapestry collection is breathtaking, as is the wood-carved furniture and columns made of glass crystal.

It wouldn't be a bad place to live, except for the fact that it's haunted by the ghost of Jacques de Breze's wife, Charlotte, and her lover. Both were assassinated, and Jacque de Breze sold the castle right after their deaths. Legend has it he couldn't stand the nighttime moaning of the ghost lovers, while he slept alone.